Highschool Hero
by allofbechloe
Summary: Highschool AU. Beca stands up against a bully targetting an insecure Chloe in a bus.
1. My Pleasure

****This is my first story, so any constructive criticism is welcome! (Don't hold back). Let me know if I should continue this drabble. And if you have any prompts you want me to write, hit me up on my tumblr: diceberry. Also, please review! It would be a great help** **.  
**** **(This story may or may not be based** **on a true story that happened to me in the bus today, oh well).**

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Beca hates public transportation. Especially buses. Those damn buses.

One time, when she was around 11 years old, the dude she sat next to threw up. Ever since that day, her dad drives her to school. Surprisingly, it wasn't Beca who asked if he could, he proposed it himself. He got a teaching job at Beca's middle school. She was also lucky that the high school she attends now is housed practically next to the middle school, so her dad would drop her off there and she'd just walk over to the other. No biggie, just 5 minutes, so she wasn't complaining.

She is now, though. Apparently, Sheila the stepmonster needed a ride this morning. Granted, she has a sprained ankle, but Beca's still offended. So she has no choice but to enter the pits of hell also known as the school bus.

Luckily, she has her headphones and her music, so the ride is a bit more bearable, or so she thought.

The first 5 to 10 minutes are fine. The bus smells likes sweaty pubescent teenage boys, but she manages to cancel it out, along with the noise. But after said minutes, she can't help but be bothered by something going on right behind her. Most of it is laughter. She doesn't need to open her eyes or take off her headphones to know it's Bumper, who's in Beca's math class. He always squints his eyes and imitates Nelsons "Ha Ha" from the Simpsons, which she hates. Old news. But that isn't what's bothering her. It's this snapping sound she keeps hearing. Eventually, she opens her eyes and sees a tiny elastic flying around the bus. It goes right past a redhead's head sitting a few seats in front of her on the other side of the aisle. She must have noticed it, because her head shoots right up and turns around to scan the back of the bus. Did she mention she was sitting in the back of the bus? That's where all the cool kids sit, yeah, you get the idea.

Bumpers starts giggling, and Beca just lets out a big sigh and stares out of the window, such a little boy. In the reflection of the window she can see the redhead turning her head back and continuing to stare at her shoes, her hair covering her face.

But it doesn't stop there, the snapping sound goes on. Bumper still misses his target by a millimeter or so, Beca traces with her eyes. And the redhead keeps yanking her head away when it happens, but for the rest, she doesn't seem to do all that much about it. Eventually, Bumper starts to sit more forward to get closer to her, and actually hits her with an elastic this time. Red grabs her head and covers the place of impact. After that, it happens again. She turns around and faces Bumper "Stop that!", she says. But a bit shaky, unsure. The grin around Bumpers face grows bigger. Beca tries to ignore, but can't shake the feeling of guilt in her gut. This is bullying, and she knows all too well how that feels. Beca's had enough when Bumper goes on after that. She turns around and looks Bumper straight in the eye, "Dude, knock it off", she says. "You go knock yourself off!", is his response. So childish, suits him perfectly. He shoots and hits again, making Red to turn around again. But she doesn't say anything. She just looks, hurt. And Beca can't take that. That's it. Beca faces Bumper again and sees that he is actually aiming for her now. Bad decision. She yanks the pencil that he uses to shoot out of his hand and snaps it with it while giving him her Beca Death Glare™. She returns the two pieces and Bumper just stares. As pleased as she is, she gets back in her seat and puts her headphones back on. She notices that the redhead is staring at her through the window. A little smile creeps on her face as she mouths "thank you" to Beca. Beca gives her a small smile in return.

"You owe me a new pencil, Mitchell!", Bumper shouts in her ear, or as close as he can get to her ear. These are pretty thick headphones. He walks past and squints his eyes. "You could have blinded me with that elastic, you know", she says. He just scoffs "Whatever" under his breath and walks past her locker.

After a couple of minutes, she feels someone tap her shoulder. It startles her a bit and the girl behind her probably noticed it too, "Sorry", she says with a shy smile on her face. It takes her a moment to continue, "Uh, thanks, for. You know. In the bus." Her hair covers her face as she looks down to her feet. "My pleasure, I've been trying to find the perfect way to kick his ass for years, so I couldn't let this opportunity slide." Beca answers, hoping to lighten the mood a little bit. It works. A set of white and perfectly aligned teeth appear as the redhead smiles, causing Beca to smile also. "I'm Beca by the way", she says as she sticks out her hand. That's stupid, why would she stick out her hand? Way too formal. But it's too late to withdraw. Red shakes the hand and looks at Beca, "Chloe, nice to meet you!"

Both their heads shoot up when the bell interrupts them. Chloe almost immediately jerks her hand back. "Crap!" she exclaims. She starts to walk away, "Gotta go, see you later?" The last part comes out more as a question than a statement. Beca just smiles and nods. She watches her trying to balance 4 books in one arm while grabbing her phone out of her pocket at the same time. Beca can't help but laugh at the sight. She hopes to see her again, too.


	2. (No) Match

**Thank you all so much for the follows, favs and reviews! I'm sorry for the grammar mistakes etcetera in the story.  
** **Please keep reviewing, it really helps me improve my story and writing!**

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History and Beca do not go well together. This has been established since day one, but she doesn't want to admit it, she's too stubborn for that.

"Today we'll start with Socrates!" Beca can't help but groan and throws her head on her desk. Who can get so excited over some dead Greek philosophers?

It's not until the teacher calls her name that she lifts her head and notices everybody is looking at her. A few even giggling. It seems that her groan and thump of her head on the desk were louder than she'd intended them to be. And Miss Borough doesn't look so pleased about it, "Do you have a problem with that, Beca?"

Beca grimaces and looks at the teacher, "Nah, I'm good," who then resumes her class.

It's not that she doesn't try, as a matter of fact, history is one of the few classes she's interested. She puts effort into it. Hell, she's still being haunted by the countless nights of binge studying. But that just left her with mediocre grades and bags under her eyes. So she finally accepts her faith and puts her head into the palm of her hand. What even is the point of showing up?

She starts to doze off and feels her eyes getting heavy, which is not unusual for her. In any other class, she would have just given in and copped some zs. But she tries to fight it. She got caught by Miss Borough quite enough times already this year.

Out of the blue, she feels a push. Her elbow slips from her desk, causing her to almost bump her head on her desk. Her instinct is to look to her left, where she finds Amy grinning like a maniac, "Dude, what the hell." Amy points her finger to the front of the classroom "Check out the new girl." Beca turns her head and sees the flaming red hair which reminds Beca of only one thing.

"Please welcome Chloe Beale." The girl stands next to the dean, looks up at the class and gives a humble smile. "She will be finishing her school year here," he faces Chloe, "please take a seat." The girl l scans the classroom for an available spot. There are two seats left, one in the front near the door and one near the window, two seats apart from Becas.

She follows the redhead with her eyes as she descends to the back of the classroom. She settles down and takes her books out of her bag. Beca leans a bit forward, "Chloe?" She turns around and in an instant, locks her eyes on Becas. Her eyes light up a little when she recognizes Beca and shoots her a little smile, then looking away again.

Amy turns towards Beca, "Isn't that one of Bumper's latest victims?" Beca furrows her eyebrows, "Where'd you get that from?"

The girl seated in front of Amy turns around, "Me, I was there" It's Emily, of course, Emily told. "Things got pretty heated." Amy crosses her arms, "Speaking of, you're the one who's responsible for his pencils' death and saved her ass, care to explain?" Beca just rolls her eyes, "He had it com-" but she's interrupted by Emily, pointing at Chloe. "You know, Lily told me she heard their old house got burned down and her dad got blamed for it."

Beca closes her eyes. Not this again. "You shouldn't listen to gossip, Em" but Amy interferes, "Well I think it's not that hard to believe if you ask me. I mean, look at that hair. You can practically see the flames flying off her head. No doubt the rest of her family don't have souls either. Plus she's pretty hot."

"Well, I call bullsh-" but Beca gets cut off by Miss Borough. "Beca, could you answer the question, please?"

Beca jumps a little at the sound of her name. The dean had already left the classroom and Miss Borough resumed the lesson. She looks at Emily and Amy in the corner of her eye for help, but both have already readjusted in their chair. What was the question again? Shit.

An awkward silence fills the classroom as the teacher waits for Beca's answer. The only thing audible being the tapping of her foot in impatience.

"Uh", is the only word escaping from Becas lips. Somebody, please save her from her misery.

Miss Borough quickly ends the painful silence, thank god. "Does anybody else know the answer to the question of what Socrates's most distinguished quote was?" But nobody responds. Beca is about the make a snarky comment when somebody speaks.

"I know one thing: that I know nothing. Also known as the Socrates paradox."

It's but a small voice, but it immediately grabs Beca's attention.

"That's correct Chloe. You heard that, Beca?"

Beca just raises her thumb and nods at the teacher in agreement. In the corner of her eye, she catches Chloe looking at her with a grin on her face.

When the bell rings and marks the end of the period, Beca rushes to stuff her books in her bag and tries to find Chloe in the crowd. Which is an impossible task for a 5' 2" in a class of 30. She hurries outside the classroom, hoping to catch her there, but no luck. She completely misses Emily and Amy passing her by. She's gets reminded of her two friends when Amy yanks at her arm, "Come on, Mitchell, before those twig bitches steal our lunch spot."

Beca lets herself being dragged away reluctantly. She turns her head one more time before they turn a corner and catches a glimpse of red hair. She's looking around her, but before she can get her attention, she disappears into the crowd.

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"I did not waste physical exercise on this." Amy marches towards the big oak tree with a facial expression that lets everybody know she's ready to kill. "I'll break her just as easy as that pencil."

Emily jumps on Amy's back to try and stop her, although she knows that that method has been proven to be ineffective. Multiple times. Beca sighs and rolls her eyes as she stands in front of the big blonde, "Shake it off, Amy, one death is enough for one day." But Amy just pushes her out of the way and walks straight towards the girls under the tree. Well, it's too late to stop her now, might as well sit back and enjoy the little drama scene.

"Excuse me," another blonde girl, resting against the trunk of the tree, raises her sunglasses – which are unnecessary in Becas opinion since she's in the shadow of the tree and it's not even that sunny, but that's a discussion for another time – and gives Amy a small but devious smile. "Hey, Amy! What's wrong?" Amy points at the tree, "You're in my spot, again." The girl gives her a questionable look as she pretends to search around the tree, "That's weird, I don't see your name anywhere."

"Oh no? Then what is this?" Amy slaps her hand against a spot on the tree right above the girl, which reads a vague "Amy" carved in it. Totally forgot about that.

"Well, you're welcome to sit with us."

"Oh no, I'm not falling for that, I've seen Mean Girls," Amy snaps her fingers, "your reversed psychology won't work on me!" She puts two fingers in the air, first pointing to her own eyes, then towards the other girls' eyes, giving her her "I'm watching you" face. "I'll avenge myself, see you later bitches!"

The two other girls positioned under the tree beside the blonde start to laugh and the leader of the clique now sets her eyes on Beca. She gives her a nonchalant look, whom Beca returns. She settles back into the tree and repositions her sunglasses. "Morning Beca." A smirk appearing on her face.

Beca mimics taking off a hat while she makes a little bow, "Always a pleasure, Aubrey," also smirking. She then turns around to follow her friends. Isn't high school great?


	3. Intertwined

**So sorry for being the biggest bitch that has ever bitched and for not uploading for about 2 months. I just couldn't find a way to end this chapter, but I guess I did it now. Thanks for being patient and I hope you'll enjoy! Reviews are always welcome and very helpful!  
**

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Beca wouldn't say it out loud, but she loves a good stroll around the park. Especially at night. She loves the darkness, the stars, the moon. Everything about it makes Beca feel good. At peace. She doesn't know why. It helps her clear her mind. Sort out her problems. Evaluate her life. All of that deep and profound stuff.  
Her dad is not so fond of it, Beca being out and about in the dark world. He's scared she'll get kidnapped or stabbed or something. But she can't help it. She feels drawn towards the charm of the night.

She stands at the foot of the lake and faces the sky. Closing her eyes as she inhales the cold air. It stings in her throat, but it makes her feel alive. Her cheeks are burned up by the cool breeze, glowing. She could sit here all night, just thinking.  
This is the only time she isn't wearing headphones. She's always been a person who needs sound around her. Even if it's just radio static. It keeps her in this world, prevents her from wandering. Sure, music makes her wander too, but that's different. This, being in the silence, awakens a different kind of wandering. A kind that she can only face at night, when there's no one to judge her or expect something from her. No disturb-

She feels something pull her arm, then hears a growl followed by a cry.

She jumps a little at the sudden disruption and looks around to see where it comes from. She opens her eyes and looks for the source of the noise, even though she knows who made it. A force against her legs almost makes her fall straight into the water, but she recovers.  
A goose is coming towards her with its wings spread, making a honking sound. The dog growls again, but with its tail between his legs.  
Beca snorts. "I thought this war between you two was over."  
She wants to pet her dog to calm him down, but he barks at the goose. He now waddles closer towards Beca.  
That's her cue to leave.  
She yanks at the leash to get her dog away from the goose. "No need for a bloodbath tonight."

They walk around like that for another ten minutes.  
Beca grabs her phone out of her pocket to check the time when her dog, again, pulls on her arm. She loses control over her phone. It dances in her fingers and flies in the air. She stumbles forward, finally catching the damn thing.  
She looks down to see what got her dog excited again. He's chasing a much smaller dog, trying to catch its tail or sniff its butt or whatever weird shit it is that dogs do.  
"I'm so sorry."  
Beca looks up to see to whom that familiar voice belongs to and is met with 2 piercing blue eyes, almost glowing in the dark.  
"Chloe? What are you doing out here?" It sounds a bit harsher than she'd intended it to be.  
"Hey," Chloe's eyes light up even more when she realizes it's Beca. She points towards the little dog and holds up her leash, "the little one needed some at-", she doesn't get to finish her sentence as the two dogs start to twirl around both the girls.  
"Buddy, stop th-",  
"Bella, come he-"  
The dogs don't listen and soon the leashes are intertwined with Beca and Chloe's legs. The fact that it's dark making it even harder to tell the two leashes apart, but the dogs have ceased there chase and settle in front of their bosses. Beca turns on the flashlight on her phone so they can free themselves from the imprisonment.

They walk around in the park for several minutes after they untangled themselves. Not really talking about anything, and the dogs still chasing each other.  
"That's a cute name."  
Beca looks up at Chloe and frowns at her, although she can't really see that.  
"What, mine? It's actually Rebeca."  
She mentally kicks herself in the ass. You're supposed to thank people when they give you a compliment, not correct them.  
To Beca's surprise, Chloe starts to giggle.  
"No, I meant your dog's. But yours is cute too."  
Beca looks down in embarrassment, Chloe's smile burning in her neck.

The giggling slowly dies and is replaced with a silence. The panting of the dogs and the calling of the owls the only things audible. It's a comfortable silence. Which is weird. Whenever this happens when she's with Amy of Emily, she stresses out, wanting to break the silence. More often than not failing at it. But with Chloe, she doesn't detect a hint of that stress at all.

"Thanks, again"  
It's very faint, but Beca was so plunged in her thoughts that it still baffled her a bit.  
"For what?"  
"This morning."  
Her mind is blank.  
"Standing up for me. In the bus."  
The same shy smile Chloe had this morning appears on her face again, including the hurt expression in her eyes.  
"Oh! That's totally cool, don't mention it." She wants it to sound reassuring, but it comes out more as some mumbling than actual words.

"So you live in the neighborhood? I haven't seen you here before."  
Chloe's expression vanishes, happy with the change of subject.  
"Yeah, well I only moved here a few days ago, so I haven't had the chance to explore everything yet."

Beca finds herself keeping the conversation going, a skill which she hasn't fully developed. Yet, hopefully. It really isn't anything meaningful or worthwhile they're talking about, but she's enjoying it.

They reach the exit of the park. Beca automatically takes a right turn, still in the middle of their discussion whether or not Nutella is the best spread.  
"I feel sorry for the people who are allergic to-"  
"Beca."  
It wasn't until then that Beca felt the emptiness next to her. She turns around.  
Chloe is standing in the exit, pointing at the road behind her.  
"I have to go this way."  
"I don't think the dogs agree." Beca gestures to the dogs pulling the leashes trying to reach each other. Chloe giggles again, which makes Beca smile.  
"Guess I will see you tomorrow?"  
"Yeah, uh, sure. Anytime."  
Chloe waves at her and turns around, slowly disappearing into the darkness. As soon as she's out of sight, Beca closes her eyes and drops her head to the ground.  
"Did I just really say that out loud?"


	4. Faraway

**Okay y'all hope you'll enjoy this! I wrote it pretty quickly so sorry if it feels a bit off but I felt like I owed you an early chapter. Also my excuses for the story going so slow, I just need to get everything set up. Reviews are a big help and thanks for the support!  
**

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"Okay, class!"  
Mr. Granby walks into the classroom, clapping his hands to get everybody's attention. "Today we're starting a new project!"  
The whole class bursts out in a collective groan. A loud thud comes from the back of the class. Nobody has to turn around to know that it's Amy. The outcome of the last project still fresh in everybody's mind.  
"It'll make up 30% of your report, so no funny business this time."  
He starts writing on the whiteboard behind him, but turns around quickly and points at Amy and Beca. "So no Australian spices."  
"Whatever", Amy mumbles.

Aubrey raises her hand. "I pick Stacie!"  
"That's not fair! You always get to work with the brainiac!" Tom yells at Aubrey. Several others start to argue too, raising their voices one by one.  
"That's why," Mr. Granby raises his voice too to overrule the rest, "I will be choosing your partners. We're going to mix it up."  
Another collective groan fills the classroom.

There was a lot of arguing and a bunch of disagreement during the pairing, but the teacher was relentless.  
Throughout the period, Beca hadn't said anything. She actually found it quite amusing to see everybody suffer. She hadn't thought about her own partner yet. Until she heard her name followed by the least compatible name Beca could think of.  
"Beca, you'll be Aubrey's partner."  
They both look up to the teacher.  
"What?"  
Beca feels Aubrey's eyes burning in her neck.  
"Do you want to create another disaster? Because that's," Beca points at herself and at Aubrey, "how you create another disaster."  
Aubrey surprisingly nods in agreement.  
"Another situation like the previous one and you both fail the class." He doesn't look up from his paper, not even giving them a glance.  
"But Mr. Gran-"  
"No buts, Aubrey. Now sit down before I'll fail the both of you right now."  
Aubrey plumps down in her chair, crossing her arms. Beca puts her head on the table, dying in silence.

"That leaves us with Stacie, Amy, and Chloe." He squints his eyes, slowly pronouncing Chloe's name. He gets a puzzled look on his face.  
Beca's head shoots up and instantly searches for the redhead in the classroom. She wasn't in this class, was she?  
Mr. Granby asks the question for Beca.  
"Do we have a Chloe in this class?"  
"She's the new girl", Aubrey answers.  
He looks down on his paper again. His face clears up. "Ah, she transferred, my bad."  
This only confuses Beca more.  
"Perfect! Amy, Stacie, you know the drill. Everybody, please find your partners and pick a table."  
Amy jumps up and exclaims a scream of joy. Stacie just rolls her eyes.

Beca and Aubrey exchange a look, both waiting for the other to approach. But who's Beca kidding?  
She picks up her stuff and drags herself over to Aubrey.  
"Just so you know, I'll be making the decis-"  
Beca waves her off. "Yeah yeah sure, let's just get this over with."

Aubrey wasn't kidding when she said she was going to take the lead. Beca didn't expect anything else, knowing Aubrey's controlling nature.  
Most of the time, she doesn't mind when somebody else takes the initiative. But there's one thing she can't stand. And that's when somebody bosses her around. And Aubrey is bossing her around.  
They set up a plan for the project and split up the tasks. Beca didn't have a say in it whatsoever but was too tired to object.  
She reads through the project paper and mumbles to herself when somebody snatches the paper out of her hands.  
"Hey!"  
"Is this how you're spending your free period? Who are you and what have you done to Beca?"  
Beca scoffs. "Don't be such a drama queen, Amy."  
"I can't have you turn into an Emily, one's more than enough."  
"I heard that!" Emily appears from behind Amy and sounds offended.  
Amy ignores her. "Let's get some food!"  
Beca thinks it over for a moment but refuses.  
Amy's facial expression goes from excited to serious in less than a second. She grabs a chair and plants herself across from Beca, looking her straight into the eye.  
"Mitchell, you just got partnered up with the monster Posen herself in the worst class ever."  
"It's not that bad."  
"You deserve some food", emphasizing the word 'deserve' by booping Beca's nose.  
"I don't think that's such a great idea. Next period is starting any minute."  
"I checked your schedule, your next period is P.E.", Amy says, horror showing on her face.  
Emily chimes in. "And we're going to Domino's."  
"Sold."

Beca closes her eyes and moans with every bite she takes.  
"Remind me to ask permission from the mayor to marry this pizza", she mumbles, her mouth stuffed with salami.  
Amy sticks up her thumb. "Noted."

They usually come here every Friday after school to celebrate the weekend. It's a tradition they have had for about a year now. They've become regulars and the employees know their orders by now. Is that an accomplishment or a new low? Whatever.

They enjoy their pizza and Beca and Amy have a discussion whether or not the school should establish an official pizza day until Emily interrupts them.  
"Isn't that the new girl, Chloe?"  
Through the window, she points at a redheaded girl leaving a building diagonally across from them.  
Beca slides over to the chair positioned next to the window to get a better look.  
"Yeah that's her", Beca says surprised.  
Amy rubs her chin with her hand. "So that's where she's been hanging out all this time."

Beca hadn't seen Chloe anymore after their encounter in the park a few nights before. She'd asked Amy if she knew where she'd gone.  
"One day and you're already obsessed with the new girl, chill Mitchell", she had answered Beca. She didn't ask about it anymore after that, not wanting to receive more remarks like that. She was probably still busy with the move.

Chloe looks around the town square and stops her gaze at the pizza tent. She catches a glimpse of the three girls sitting inside. She squints her eyes to get a better look at them and smiles when she realizes it's Beca.  
Beca waves at her. Chloe gives her a small wave back.  
Another woman leaves the building and stands next to Chloe. She has a stern expression plastered on her face and looks at Chloe, then at the three girls, then back to Chloe.  
Chloe probably didn't realize the woman's appearance, because as she speaks, Chloe jumps a bit and looks up at the woman. Her smile vanishes from her face.  
The woman talks to Chloe and Chloe just nods. When the woman's finished, Chloe just stares at the ground. Although she's on the other side of the square, she's visibly upset. She follows the woman and gets in a car.  
She gives Beca one last glance before they take off.

"That didn't look so good", Amy says in a high-pitched voice to break the silence.  
"What was that all about?" Emily says, her mouth still filled with pizza.  
"I bet she robbed a liquor store."  
Beca furrows her eyebrows. "Why would you think that?"  
"I saw it in her eyes."  
"You should stop making up rumors about her."  
"Do you have a better explanation, Emily?"  
The both of them start a discussion. Beca just takes another bite from her pizza slice, but she's not hungry anymore.  
"You still gonna eat that?"  
"Eat away, Amy."


End file.
